The Mystery of R1, R2, R3 Solved: Presenting the ‘Strength Finder’

Why is it that most of us are unable to identify R1, R2, and R3 questions while taking Mock CATs and usually end up attempting the difficult questions over the easier ones? The reason is that most of us are confused about our strengths and weaknesses. We work at the macro level i.e. the topic level (Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry etc.) but our attempts in CAThave to be at the question type level, and many of us are unable to reconcile the two levels.

Is it something new to us? Of course not! We have done this regularly for our school and college exams. For the school/college exams, we would focus not on the chapter (or the topic) but, within each chapter, on the sub-topics or question types that we could handle. We would first attempt the questions that we were sure of answering correctly (R1) and then move on to questions that we were reasonably sure of answering, at least partly (R2). The questions that we were not sure of were not even touched. CAT and all other MBA entrance exams are no different and this tried and tested method of test-taking is what you need to implement to get a good score in MBA entrances.

The first step is to understand your comfort level within different question types (not topics or sub-topics) that appear in CAT and other MBA entrance. Hopefully, the Mock CATs that you have taken so far have given you an idea about your strong and not so strong question types. If not then please analyze your last 2-3 Mocks as suggested in the post ‘Are you choosing the right questions in your Mock CATs?’

Now that you have some understanding of your strong and not so strong question types, fill up the Strength Finder which lists down the question types that have appeared in CAT off late. The strength finder comes with the CAT Score Booster and can be found in your SIS if you have access to the CAT Score Booster. There are two blank columns corresponding to every question type. Based on your comfort level, decide which of the two columns each question type belongs to. What goes into which column is defined below:

Column II should contain all those question types that you are able to attempt correctly most of the time or for which you mark the correct answer in at least 75% of the questions. These are your strengths.

Column I should contain all the topics and question types in which your accuracy is extremely poor or those topics which you are not able to comprehend. These are your weaknesses. These are the topics for which you need serious improvement.

The funda is simple, either you are good at a particular topic or you need improvement in it. There is no middle ground. Once you are aware of the topics that belong to these two categories for you, you need to put in an effort to bring them from column II to column I. I.

How to implement in CAT?

This categorization of QA questions into Column I & II helps us in identifying which questions should be attempted in each of the three rounds.

Column II questions that can be solved in about 100 seconds should be attempted in R1.

Column II questions that are not solved/attempted in R1 or take more than 100 seconds should be attempted in R2.

Column I questions should be attempted in R2 or R3 if time permits.

This will also ensure that you do not waste time on risky shots and double negatives.

How much time should be spent in each round?

This is a function of how comfortable you are with the section and how many questions you can attempt comfortably. Let me give you 3 different scenarios:

If your target attempt in QADI is 30+ questions:

R1 could be 30 minutes for 12-14 attempts consisting of questions that can be solved in less than 2 minutes. R2 could be 20 minutes for another 10-12 attempts and R3 could be the balance 10 minutes for around 8-10 questions.

You could also compress this in two Rounds of 40 and 20 minutes with 15-16 attempts in each round (R1 and R2).

If your target attempt in QADI is around 25 questions:

R1 could be 40 minutes for 12-14 questions, consisting of questions that can be solved in less than 3 minutes. R2 could be 15 minutes for another 8-12 questions and R3 could be the balance 5 minutes for 2-3 questions.

You could also compress this in two Rounds (R1 and R2 only) of 45 and 15 minutes with 12-13 attempts in each round.

If your target attempt in QADI is 20-22 questions:

Do not go for three Rounds, two are sufficient. You could target 10-11 questions in 40 minutes of R1 and 20 minutes of R2.

Alternately you could consider attempting the section in one round (only R1) of 60 minutes and attempt only those QA questions that are in Column II and can be solved by you in less than 4 minutes.

Needless to say, all this is only indicative and you will need to create your own structure based on your strengths and weaknesses. Please work out a strategy that works for you based on the Mock CATs taken so far and test it out in a couple of mock CATs before freezing it.

Instructions for using Strength Finder:

CL students can access ‘Strength Finder’ in the CAT Score Booster from the homepage of their SIS. Other students can access it by registering here.

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91 Comments

ria
on November 2, 2016 at 4:17 pm

Hello Sir,
Despite of regular studying my score in mock CATs are not very good. It varies between 75-100. Please tell me how should I improve my score. Also, in CAT what score will give 90-95 percentile?

sir i am confused in RC part in which i found very difficult to find the right option
please sir suggest me something,so i can overcome this problem and sir when RC’s which are related to philosphy or history,this parts are i found difficult to solve…

I am not able to fill up strength finder to initiate CAT score booster. When it comes to selection of My strength areas I get confused as I am not able to distinguish the type of question, especially in verbal section. And for other sections also just by looking at the name of topic I cannot make it out whether it is my strength or not.

Konark, I will be coming out with an article next week on this but my current estimate is that a net score of 140 marks will be above 99%ile.
If you are confident of at least a score of 55 in your weaker section in 70 minutes then giving 20 extra minutes to the stronger section is okay.
With a VALR score of 30 you will not be able to clear the sectional cutoff and hence need to immediately work out a plan to increase it to around 50. In QADI also you should work on your accuracy since with 24-28 attempts a score of 60 indicates 6 incorrect answers which is high. TO improve your QADI score look at improving the accuracy and with the same attempt you could be in the 70-75 range.

Hello Sir!
I am in the DA category and have 3 years of work experience. Have 80% both in 10th and 12th and 61% in grad.
What is the score and percentile I should be targeting for a call from IIMA, IIMB, IIMC?

Sir My best case scenario as per CL percentile predictor is around 94 percentile[ after 3 mocks]. But my quant score is pathetic; in the 50s. But I manage to get as high as 99 + percentile in the second section which evens out the deficit somewhat. What should I do in the next two weeks to get my Quant score up to acceptable level? I have not started any serious preps. What topics should I concentrate. I think I have pretty decent basics in elementary mathematics [ 96 in CBSE class X] .Please suggest some strategy.I am confused…

Vaisakh, ideally you should have 60 marks in QADI but as long as you can get a 55 in QADI you should be able to make it to the next stage. For guidance on what to do in the next few days please refer to the post 4 Weeks to CAT’14 – Ab billi door nahin

Hi Sir,
In the last few mocks (CL & TIME) i am getting marks in the range of 80-100 with percentile ranging from 80-90. Overall marks in VA is more but accuracy of QA is higher. In the stipulated time of 90 mins for QA i am able to solve only 24-27 qstns. With time i have gained a little confidence in VA (LR gets me almost 80% of the marks i get in this section). In the remaining mocks i am targeting atleast 120+ . Please Suggest. I feel a little lost now. 🙁

Hitesh, 24-27 questions in QADI is good but it is your accuracy that you may need to work on. About 3 extra correct answers in each section could take you to the next level. The starting point should be identify:
1. where can you save time? Are there questions in QA, DI & LR that you try to solve but are unable and hence leave them unmarked or mark any choice because you have spent so much time? If yes what is common to these questions?
2. accuracy – how many errors in each questions type (not section)? What is the reason for these errors – can they be rectified or some of these question types should not be attempted in the future.
3. marks per minute. How much time do you give to each sub section,what is your attempt in each and how many correct? The sub sections are – QA, DI, LR, Verbal Logic, English Usage and RC? Which of these give you a better return on investment of time?
Answer the above questions based on your last 4 mocks and you should be able to get the path to 99%ile.

Sir,
Why does CAT PP Predictor not take Unproc Mocks into account? Are they lower in standards as compared to Proc Mocks? I am curious to know as some of my best scores were achieved in Unprocs. Pls clarify.

Hi GP Sir,
Thank you for all your Hard work for students like us. I really find all of your posts very helpful. The SQC workshop that i attended was of great benefit as well. I wanted to ask ,if you conduct similar type of sessions for DI as well. My main problem even after practicing atleast 1 di set daily is that in the mock..i am tempted to quant only in the time i allocated to DI in the beginning because i somehow feel that quant would take lesser time and the answers can be marked with more accuracy than DI. DI on the other hand, takes more time in my case and still questions like “how many are more than this” are a risky shot even after making the whole table. Is DI really important to be attempted, if yes. Please tell how much time should i atleast give to DI And how many questions atleast should be solved in MOCK.
Much Thanks 🙂

Sia, as in the case of QA, there are easy and difficult sets in DI also and the trick is to identify and attempt the easier ones. Suggest that you go through the DI sets of Mocks CATs and identify the type of DI sets/questions that you are able to handle comfortably and revise them regularly. Do the same for DI sets of CAT 1990-98 also. Typically a DI set of 4-5 questions should be possible in about 10 minutes.
It is not necessary to attempt DI if you are able to manage with QA only but my suggestion is to consider attempting at least one DI set.

Until now I used to judge over the question and not the topic. So if I say am good with Factors and then an actually difficult comes my way I can decide to let go rather than spend time on it thinking if am good with it I need to crack it come what may. On the other hand we have what you are suggesting. Which way to go exactly ?

Varshul, very difficult questions or questions that consume a very high amount of time should not be attempted in the paper, I do not agree with the attempt under any circumstance approach. Also I have also said that one must go by the question type and not the topic.

Respected Sir,
Firstly thank you for all your posts. Its very helpful for us.
I would like to ask you what strategy should we adopt for NMAT as I have my exam due in a few days. And also your suggestions about dealing with questions in NMAT.
Thanks and regards
Apurva Khokhani.

Hitesh, you may not be able to improve in the limited time available and should look at attempting only those questions (20-25) that you are sure of solving in QADI and try to maximise your score in VALR.

Sir, I have started my preparations lately (a month ago and couldn’t do much till now very sincerely due to some other academic involvements) and am getting marks in the range of 110-135 in some 5-6 tests given till now. My maths part is very strong but I am out of practice I feel. I have joined CL Online test series along with Test Gym. How shall I prepare in last 35 days so as to get a 99.5+% in CAT’14.
The last test I gave, my score was 134/300 with 74 in QADI and 60 in VALR.
I started using your technique of choosing easy questions and solve them and so on, in order to not miss any easy do-able question. I saw your Mock Attempt for Test 7 due to which I improved substantially. Thanks a lot sir.
It would be very kind if you could help me with my daily schedule for CAT’14 from today onwards. I can give 7-8 hours completely, without any hindrance, to CAT preparations.

Akshat, you could follow the schedule given below or modify it to suit you requirements.
Day 1: Topic wise tests from the Test Gym eg, 2 tests each of RC, DI, LR and VL (14 questions each), 1 test of Usage (Sentence Correction and Vocabulary) and 3-4 of QADI
Day 2: Practice questions from old CAT papers from all sections.
Day 3: Take a section test of QADI and VALR, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Day 4: Repeat Day 1 schedule
Day 5: Repeat Day 2 schedule
Day 6: Revise all important questions from all the test that you have taken so far.
Day 7: Take a Mock CAT
While questions from all CAT papers from 1990 to 2008 have to be attempted, you should focus on:
CAT 1990-99 papers for DI
CAT 1997-2008 papers for Verbal Logic, RC and LR.
CAT 1990-2008 for QA (specific focus on CAT 2000-2008)

Hello GP Sir,
Am regularly scoring 130-160 in my mock exams and CLPP predicts 99.8+ %ile however I’m unable to attempt more than 60 questions usually. I want to increase my score by another 30-40 marks for which I HAVE TO attempt more questions.
How do I increase my attempts without hurting the accuracy?

Also like in mocks 140s shows CLPP as ~99.9, would the same 140s score in CAT result in 99.9+ %ile or the paper is expected to get easier and mock scores of 140s translate to higher scores ? This is to get a rough idea of the targeted attempts for a 99.9 + %ile

Mir, please call me in the evening at 9811155160 to discuss the attempts issue.
A score of 140 cannot be taken in isolation, if the level of difficulty changes then your score will also change but the percentile is unlikely to change.

With the help of strength finder I could find out that I am not comfortable with Algebra. It scares me more than Geometry. I have completed basic level modules of Algebra. You have been mentioning in your blogs that find your weaknesses and practice it more. Sir can you suggest from where should I practice more questions? I have reached Advanced level in TGA and could solve the questions easily. But when it comes to Mocks either I don’t realise the approach or get it incorrect. Please guide me.

Pankti, do not take Algebra as a single topic, it has different questions types, please check which of these you are able to manage.
If you are able to solve advanced level questions in the TGA but still not able to solve questions in the test then it could be due to test pressure or due to lack of revision. Hope in addition to practising you are revising also. For practice in addition to TGA you should take old CAT papers (CAT 1990 – 2008) and also ensure that all Mocks are attempted.

When i opened section tests in test gym classic V2.0 , there I can see two type of section tests (in CAT BASED section test TAB):-

section tests 1-15 of 50 min each
section tests 16-20 of 85 min each . In front of these CAT Qs is also written .

Does this mean that section tests 1-15 are not having CAT questions . Asking this because I have already done most of the CAT questions from various chapters and hence if these contain CAT questions , I need not attempt them. But if these are not containing past cat questions , I may attempt and solve them .

Hi GP sir ,
I have a query regarding the test gym adaptive . Suppose i reached the intermediate level in some topic . Then after a few tests I perform really really bad in the intermediate level , will the test gym adaptive put me back in the beginer level or is there no backward direction movement designed in the test gym ?

Sir, I agree that not many students might have taken the test that’s why the %ile is high but if you just look at the score what are your suggestions? Will the tests be of almost same difficulty level? I feel the actual test will have higher difficulty level. Please give you valuable input.

Since this year they have increase the number of seats to 500, so how is that going to affect NMAT Cutoff? I am writing my NMAT on 26th of this month so looking forward to your reply.

Lucky, you have a good performance in the NMAT mocks, the cut offs in NMAT have typically been 55 for LS, 61-65 for LR, 72-76 for QS and 208-210 for overall score and hence your performance in the mocks is good. Hopefully you will replicate this on 26th. The analysis of this year’s paper will be available by tomorrow and should help you strategise for NMAT. I do not expect the NMAT cutoff to vary significantly from that of last couple of years.

My accuracy is nearly 90% across VA question (which is why i score most over here)
BUT am unable to avoid getting sucked into the speed breakers (and end up wasting too much time on tough questions) I do get most of the tough ones right though..but it takes 3.5-4 minutes per tough question.

Is there anthing i can do to identify the doable ones from the speed breakers…any check based on my analysis of previous 7 mocks…or any cut off time beyond which i simply leave

i am pathetic in LR and do only 1 (the simplest one) set..i get all right..
Also i RCs i have a gr8 hit rate
Hence my score in VA (around 70 fr simpler papers..around 55 in the tougher ones) is primarily dependant on VA

In the tougher ones i mean the VA was tough…so i wasted too much time there..got most right..but could hardly attempt one RC after

Look forwards to ur advice

PS:One complaint SIR!!!!
while posting comments there seems to be a lot of issues…when i hit POST COMMENT..it says page not found..or UNREADABLE CAPTCHA CODE.
Please look into the same
as the comments box DOES NOT allow COPY PASTE
i had to TYPE this entire post 4 times..Hopefully it gets posted this time or ill b typing it a 5TH TIME

Self-discipline is the only solution to this. You need to analyse your previous mocks and identify those questions/question-types for which you took too much time to solve. For your remaining mocks, make it a point to attempt such question types later (i.e. towards the end of the paper, after having attempted all the easy/less time-taking questions). We will look into the issue with posting comments. Thanks for sharing this problem with us.

Sir, i was part of CL prep class room. but this year i only manage 90. i have work exp of 3yrs 4 months. is it too late to give CAT. or should i go for another attempt.
I am not able to decide whether to take CAT or go for GMAT. As GMAT tends to be very costly.
Also i am male IT engineer with average marks, so old IIM and FMS are out of reach.
Thanks

Sir, i asked this because many IIMs start taking work ex more than 36 months as negative. Work exp of 36 months are counted as 5 points. greater than 36 months, its counted for just 2 points.
Is this the strategy followed by rest of the institue also >? link new IIMs, MDI?

Hello sir,in quant i have not done the basics of Algebra and PnC.If i complete the basics in next 3-4 days and try solving all the questions of these topics from Proctored Mocks,then is it going to be helpful ?(i mean will i be able to solve a few sums from these topics in CAT ?).I have 35 days left for CAT.

Hello sir,
I am going through deep analysis after every mock. Earlier I was not able to solve more than 5 questions in quant but now I am consistently scoring more than 30 marks in last few mocks.In last 3 mocks i scored 50,55,48 marks…can you please guide me whether I should apply to IMI delhi or not?? Last year their cut off was around 85%..what score can give 85% in actual cat?? Thanks in advance., 🙂

Saurabh, In CAT’12, a raw score of 75-80 would have converted to 85%ile. Please check the CL Percentile Predictor to estimate your likely CAT percentile based your performance in Mock CATs and then decide.

Sir,
Despite putting a lot of efforts, I am unable to get 90+ percentile and still getting 60-70 marks in mocks. The scores have been constant for the last 8-9 mocks .I desperately need to improve my scores. Plz tell me what I should do.

Sir, i am scoring only 40%ile in my Proctored mocks.I have done almost all the tests in section wise from test gym in quant and DI and revised all these questions before i gave my Proc mock 9 .My accuracy in quant went up. . I found the questions easy in quant section this time.But still my attempts did’nt improve.I gathered good amount of negative marks from the Verbal section. I badly want to improve my score this time.So, sir please suggest me what i should be doing from now to improve my attempts and get a 90%ile in Proctored mock 10 and unproctored mocks.

Sharmila, please continue with this process of revision and soon your attempts will also go up, accuracy improves faster than attempts. Revison shouldbe done for the VALR section as well to ensure accuracy and improved attempts.

gp sir, there is sqc in agra on 20th sept.
who is taking that ???
as i have enrolled in gwalior center we have sqc by nitin prasad sir so 19, in agra if you or gejo sir is taking sqc in agra i will attend sqc in agra also.
thanks sir for strength finder

Amount of water initially in 1000 ml of M1 = 400 ml
Amount of water initially in 1000 ml of M2 = 700 ml
Amount of water left in M1 when “x” ml is taken out = (400 – 0.4x)
Amount of water left in M2 when “x” ml is taken out = (700 – 0.7x)
Amount of water in M1 when “x” ml from M2 is added = (400 – 0.4x) + 0.7x = (400 + 0.3x)
Amount of water in M2 when “x” ml from M1 is added = (700 – 0.7x) + 0.4x = (700 – 0.3x)
According to the information given in the question,
400 + 0.3x = 700 – 0.3x
or, x = 500 ml

Sir,from the last tym i discussed with you,my scores in mock tets have increased from 75-80 to 87.i started with 45% In QADI in proc 5 to 85+ in proc 8.VA LR has gone from 95 to 80 and hovered around in this range..now sir only two mocks are left..dyu think there is still time for me to improve and get 99+ in CAT? how much %ile should i target in mock 9 and 10? looking forward to your advice sir. 🙂

Jaspreet, Decrease in VALR score is disappointing but there is sufficient time to reach 99%ile+ in CAT. Please identify the issue in VALR and work on it. The target score in Mock 9 and 10 should be 95%ile+. I will be publishing a blog post on what to do from now till CAT.

I have a few doubt regarding Test Gym Adaptive :-
first doubt :- Are all the questions asked in test gym adaptive previous cat questions or are there some other questions also ?

My second doubt is : I have a CPI of 9 in geometry , but i have only solved average questions. If i go for a higher level, will my cpi decrease or will the cpi naturally take the difficulty level of the test into account?

1. Test Gym comprises questions from Previous CAT papers as well as original questions that are developed by us.
2. Our algorithm takes into account the difficulty level while determining your CPI. So, for example, if you get a few questions wrong initially and then get the remaining right, your CPI will end up greater than 9. On the other hand, if you get more questions wrong than right, your CPI will decrease, but not significantly. This is a rather simplistic view of the underlying algorithm but i hope it answers your query.

This is something we did consider while formulating the algorithm. But think about it. We always tend to judge someone based on his/her last performance, irrespective of how good/bad he/she has been. It is more about what you are at the present than what you have been. Expecting your past performances to have an effect on where you stand currently isn’t exactly being fair. We would neither want you to rest easy and bask in the glories of your past(Think Microsoft or Sachin for that matter!) nor lurk under the shadows of ghosts from the past!(Think Narendra Modi! Nah. we are just kidding!).

Vivek, apply Pythagorous theorem. if I remember correctly in this question the hypotenuse was 10, assuming the equal sides to be x and applying Pythagorous theorem we get x^2 + x^2 = 10^2 or x = sq root (50)

Sir,can you please tell me from where to practice set theory questions containing 4 sets(as it was asked in last year CAT exam).I am not getting questions anywhere on 4 sets set theory,can you please help?

We haven’t encountered any book that deals specifically with 4 set questions. You need to refer to multiple sources for it. For solving problems of this kind effectively, I suggest you use the following diagram for representing various regions instead of using the traditional circles. It is less confusing and will help you solve these problems in a systematic way.

Sir i have submitted the strength finder. But how do i work upon the column II as time left for CAT is very less ?? also few of the concepts in Column III are easy but i always end up making some mistakes or other ( especially circular type in TSD ) and hence they go in column III. How do i bring them to column I in this short time??

Ankur, the question types that you have put in column III because of mistakes can be improved upon by revision of important questions of the topic. In the time available the only things that you should focus on are practice and revision.

Sir I am taking the topic tests from test gym daily. I do 1 test each of the quants , reasoning , verbal and rc. Apart from these i revise 1 topic test each of the above which i have already taken followed by few questions from old cat papers. because of this m not able to revise my mock-cat tests plus in topic tests also m not able to revise more than 1 test of each section. So my question is that what should be my priority . Shall i take topic tests and revise old topic tests along with mocks and leave old cat papers for some tym or something else. My slot is on 20th october and I have around full 25 days with me. Plz Suggest some strategy for these left out days !!

Abhi, You do not have to revise every day. Keep one day per week for revision of all tests. Old CAT papers should definitely be attempted. I will be publishing a blogpost today on what to do in the last 4 weeks which will hopefully answer your questions.

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About GP

Gautam Puri

GP describes his academic performance early in life as pathetic. With scores of 61% in Xth and 65% in XIIth, he was always at the bottom of the class. For students, he is an aptitude guru who simplifies fundamentals, problem solving, and test taking strategy. GP loves driving & has been part of Raid-de- Himalayas off road adventure. An IIM B alumnus, GP is one of the core founders of CL.